The decision to build your timber frame home was probably not made overnight. You read books and magazines, watched television shows and did your research on the Internet. Timber frames are built not only with chisels and mallets, but with dreams and heart.
Your timber frame home plan is critical to making this home the home of your dreams. It has to fit your lifestyle, your budget, and first and foremost…the land it will sit on. If you have a preconceived plan in mind, even before you buy your property, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, find the right property, then design your new timber frame to fit well on that site.
Timber frames offer great opportunities to design a home with daylighting, no wasted space, accessibility, sustainability, energy efficiency, and all the charm and character you want, whether a very contemporary home, a farmhouse, a lodge, or a cottage. Your site will define the footprint and the orientation.
Armed with the lay of your land, your home can be designed (whether from an existing plan that is revised to work for you or custom designed) to make the best use of all the site’s features. If the amazing view was the defining factor in purchasing your land, then design a home that takes in that view from most of the rooms. If the shelter of surrounding trees is important, design your home so that you walk out into the shade and shelter. Design to fit with the local vernacular. Your timber frame should feel that it belongs on the land, that the land was there, awaiting its arrival.
So, armed with this information, go out and find your perfect land to build the perfect timber frame home. If you have the perfect land, design that home now, whether you’ll build next year or in ten years. The blueprint will give you time to “live” with your plan and to think about how you live and plan to live. The least expensive changes are made right there on paper.
And, don’t forget to BUILD BOLDLY.